Ancient, medieval, Islamic and world history -- comments, resources and discussion.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Time and a word

And the word is "Yes."

I've talked about the divine nature of music here. How about evidence of time travel?

In 1971 the British band Yes put out "The Yes Album" one of the best they ever did (and they've got more than a double handful of truly excellent albums). In the song Yours is No Disgrace was the mysterious phrase "Send an instant comment to me..." What they meant by it, I don't know, but just by living a half-century, more or less, the phrase has become not at all remarkable.

One of my favorite late-Yes songs (1997) is "Open Your Eyes," which has the all-too-relevant lines:

We cast the world, we set the stage

For what could be the darkest age

By itself, evidence of nothing. But it does go one to describe:

Short exchanges

From perfect strangers

We'll never know

Evidence of nothing except maybe an uncanny resonance in the imaginations of the band members.